The Uterus Police Initiative Ruled “Misleading”

The judge has ruled the language on the parental consent initiative to be “misleading”.

Well, you’d think that would be enough for disqualification. WRONG!

Basically, you can flat-out lie and mislead registered voters in an effort to meet initiative signature requirements, get caught red-handed by a superior court judge, and receive the equivalent of a hand slap. Your initiative, based upon deception, can still go to the ballot-so long as you tweak the language a bit.

WTF? How do you think it would have rolled if this were the aerial wolf hunting bill, clean water or clean elections initiatives?

Exactly.

So, just who is Judge Frank Pfiffner? Judge Pfiffner was appointed by Governor Sean Parnell October 29, 2009. He is a favorite of the activist homophobic uterus police group known as the Alaska Family Council-one of the sponsors of the parental notification initiative. Last April, the Alaska Family Council railed against Judge Morgan Christen being appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court from a list of candidates provided by the Alaska Judicial Council. About Frank Pfiffner not being on the Alaska Judicial Council’s short list, the AFC said, “Yet other highly-regarded and superbly qualified candidates, such as attorney Frank Pfiffner, were not (included in the AJC’s list of judicial nominees).

Henkimaa had a great article on how the judicial selection process works in Alaska. The fundamentalist Christian Right HATES the process and actually sued to change it.

This just in from the ACLU Alaska:

Court Rules Summary on Initiative Misleading

Orders Lieutenant Governor Rewrite

ANCHORAGE, AK, March 16, 2010 — The Court today issued its ruling in the matter of Planned Parenthood and Wingrove v. Campbell, and agreed that Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Alaska were right to bring the lawsuit challenging certification of the proposed initiative, which seeks to impose government restrictions on medical care.

The Court stated that that the summary prepared by the Lieutenant Governor was misleading and must be corrected, because it did not tell the voters the full story. The Court also agreed that the initiative contained court rules, in violation of constitutional requirements for Initiatives.

The summary, as included in the petition signature booklets, did not tell voters that – if passed – this initiative would take away rights Alaskans currently have and replace it with additional government mandates; and it did not tell the voters that doctors, rather than being concerned about providing the very best care to their patients, will now have to worry about being subject to felony convictions.

In essence the thousands of voters who signed these petitions were misled. Alaska voters were not given an accurate summary of what they were signing.

The Alaska Supreme Court has overturned a 10-year-old state law requiring parental or judicial consent for a teenager to obtain an abortion, calling it an infringement on a pregnant teen’s “constitutional right” to reproductive freedom.

The law was passed in 1997 but was never enacted because of court challenges from Planned Parenthood and others. Gov. Sarah Palin immediately condemned the high court ruling as outrageous and an infringement on “a parent’s right and duty to make sure they’re looking out for their child’s best interest.”

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, noted that 24 other states have similar consent laws. “And yet three justices in Alaska arrive at the inane conclusion that this interferes with the ‘rights’ of a young teenage girl to take another human life through a potentially dangerous medical procedure?” he said. “No constitution that permits such activity is worth the paper it’s printed on. And this is the same girl who needs parental consent to take aspirin at school?

“This particular court has been routinely imposing its liberal judicial will on Alaskans for at least a decade in areas like same-sex ‘marriage’ and abortion, and is a textbook example of an activist court attempting to mold Alaska in its own frightening image.”

The 2008 session introduced House Bill 301 that would forbid partial birth abortions, and House Bill 364 would require parental consent for women under 17 seeking abortion. Neither made it out of committee. Sarah Palin suggested at the time a special session called to address it and supported a constitutional amendment.

In July 2009, Sean Parnell certified a ballot initiative sponsored by former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, current House candidate Mia Costello, and Kim Hummer-Minnery, married to the president of the Alaska Family Council, a X-ian, anti-choice political action committee.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU sued. The citizens who signed the ballot initiative weren’t privy to all the information that would be included in the new law if passed. Little details like felonies for doctors.

The initiative proposes the doctor notify a parent. To be sure the parent is who he or she says, the doctor would be required to verify the parent’s identity with government-issued identification, and see documentation verifying parentage or guardianship. If a doctor can’t reach a parent, the physician must “continue to initiate the call, in not less than two-hour increments, for not less than five attempts in a 24-hour period,” according to the initiative.

If a physician doesn’t comply with the law, he or she would face a felony charge.

So, in a state with horrible incest statistics, we could require a teenager, impregnated by her father, to notify him that his child/grandchild may be aborted. Think Papa Pilgrim. How long until a young Alaskan woman googles “how to abort your fathers baby at home”?

This isn’t about parental rights. You have a right as a parent to know where your children are and make sure they aren’t getting pregnant. This is about throwing Red Meatto Red Voters.

Responses

Craig Campbell has no honor just an insatiable need for power no matter how he gets it. He is Palin’s lap dog and can be bought at any price. He screwed the National Guard and he will screw Alaska. Why hasn’t he been investigated after the Legislature heard reports about him at his August 10 confirmation? Surely they aren’t all whimpy. It’s time to take a stand Alaskans.

It took a state court decision to prevent MORE state government intervention in people’s lives?

I thought the Palin….er, Parnell administration (which is essentially the same thing) were all for a state “…that relies on God and family for its strength [and] does not seek to expand the [state] government to meet every need. Fiscal responsibility and small government are not merely economic principles, they speak to the moral character of a people that believes government has an important but limited function.”

(quoted from a conservative pro-Palin blog — I substituted “state” for “federal” but the principle is the same)

Even with that ruling, the initiative is still going to be on the ballot. Campbell will just have to re-write the language. Seems like if they were misleading the people who signed the petition and trying to mislead anyone who reads their ballot they should just throw the whole thing out and let them try again with an honest petition next time around.

I hear ya Dave and sure hope to heck that will happen. Can you imagine what will happen if this makes it on the ballot in the REWRITTEN format? People are gonna be even more confused than before. I think they should scrap the whole thing until it can be presented plain & honest.

FINALLY!!! Somebody (the courts) are calling the Gov & former Gov & their followers out on all of the foolishness they try to slip by folks. I remember grilling one of the petitioners at the 5th Ave Mall. She had no answers to support any of what she was trying to dish up. She just keep repeating ignorant rhetoric that was cooked up by folks that have no business deciding anything for anyone else. Finally, she retreated when another person that was signing across the hall heard me and begin to ask the same questions. In fact that person eventually crossed his name off the petition because it all seemed a bit shifty. They were talking in circles and the whole thing made absolutely no sense. Now, today, FINALLY the court has recognized it as misleading as well. WAY TO GO SHANNYN for keep us updated. I’m sure it will be on the news tonight, but it’s good to get the info HOT OUT OF THE COURT HOUSE. Thanks!

Thanks, Shannon. I keep up best I can and read bills and proposals, initiatives, petitions and referendums. I’ve teleconferenced and appeared in person. Often I wonder how many people even know what’s happening in the Leg.
You’re shining a light and I really appreciate it. I’m also pretty happy with the judiciary these days, and Lance Mackey.

Henkimaa had a great article on how the judicial selection process works in Alaska. The fundamentalist Christian Right HATES the process and actually sued to change it.

Yeah, that’s Miller v. Carpeneti, which I wrote a bunch of posts about last fall. It lost at the District court level but it’s been appealed to the 9th Circuit. And based on all the connections I discovered last year, there’s a pretty strong link between that lawsuit & the entire “pro-life” agenda in AK. The right-to-life folks want to politicize AK judicial selection so they can get rid of judges who make rulings like this one.

Coincidentally, I just got copies of the briefs in the 9th Circuit case yesterday, & will be putting them online in the next coupla days.

Thank you, Shannyn!- it was with total disgust that I read about that bastard-Hale, aka Papa Pilgrim! I am always amazed that these pigs can live so long-terrorizing innocent and sweet babies…and miracle of miracles,
that they(the children) grow up to lead a meaningful and loving life–is the sweetest and
most appropriate response to the terrors of Hale!

I listened to Rick Rydell this morning discussing this issue on his radio show and had to change stations!

What upsets me the most about this issue is ‘incest’ – a matter the other side is not even referencing. There is absolutely no way a teenager would want to have her father contacted (FOR APPROVAL) when he is the one who implanted the bad seed! This will move teenagers in other directions should the matter be approved.

I sincerely urge everyone to watch the wording on the ballot and vote to assure ‘contacting the parents’ is not approved!

Well, Rick lives in Washington state now… and doesn’t have a uterus. Two more reasons I don’t listen to him. People are distracted by the subject of the initiative. The fact that a judge has ruled the 32,000+ signatures still valid even after ruling they were obtained through “misleading” is SICK.

Craig Campbell is bought and paid for by Sarah Palin. He will stop at nothing to gain power and will use anyone. The Legislature must not have been awake at his confirmation August 11 as there were compelling testimonies given about his lack of integrity. This man is a liar and has no ethics.